The Quiet Before the Storm
by RoRoPop10
Summary: Pre-apocalypse and Molly has returned home from college exasperated with the small-minded vapid friends and boyfriend she has grown to hate. Then by chance she meets Daryl Dixon and everything begins to change. A mounting horror comes crashing into the tranquility of her North Georgia mountain home and she finds that Daryl becomes much more to her than she ever bargained for.
1. Chapter 1

It was two o'clock in the morning in Lanagan's bar, Johnny was on his twelfth bottle of beer and I'd had my fill of the whole night. Connie was leaning over the bar in a low cut top trying to entice some attention and the rest of the girls had left hours ago. I glanced blearily at Johnny and he had just begun to knock back the first of ten shots with the rest of the guys. They were all hooting at him like chimpanzees.

"Johnny I'm going," I slurred. I slammed down the full glass of wine I had balanced in my hand and the contents sloshed all over the table.

"Babe! Jeez!" Johnny exclaimed jumping from his seat and glancing down at his pants.

"I'm going Johnny, you gonna take me home?" His face was paralyzed with drink but suddenly it twisted into a grotesque grimace.

"Babe! Why you gotta do this to me all time, huh? The guys!" He staggered as he waved his hand towards the Neanderthals sat behind him. They began to bray loudly at this and I scuffed back my seat before heading unsteadily towards the door.

"Fuck y'all!" I called back and when I glanced behind he had already reached for another shot glass, completely unconcerned that I was about to step out on my own into the night. Looking at him from the doorway I began to realise just how fervently I had begun to hate him since I'd returned from college. He was a pig and his friends were pigs, even my own friends had begun to disgust me. They were all vapid and so completely far removed from everything I was and what I had become. In a way I had always known this but safety seemed to come in their numbers and Connie hadn't always been as manipulative and cruel as she was now. My perspective had changed since I'd come back, what was once familiar had now become alien and grotesque; I wanted nothing more to do with these people.

I stepped out onto the road, it was going to be a long walk back to my parent's house, the roadhouse bar was in the middle of a lonely old dusty track that wound up the mountain but the moon was full and luminous enough to light the way and I was too inebriated to see sense and call a cab. Besides, the night was tantalizingly beautiful and I wanted to walk through it and fully appreciate the isolation and ghostly splendor that surrounded me. It felt good to be alone for once.

Either side of me were dark woods, I decided to stick to the road and listened to the crickets chirping in the grass as I scuffed my way down. It was only a short while before I spotted the lights of a truck coming towards my direction. I panicked suddenly, after savoring my isolation the thought of meeting someone on the road was excruciating. I bolted into the woods to my left, following a small path which skirted the edges of it alongside a small field. I knew that this path was a shortcut to the town and eventually led through an old trailer park. I decided to follow that way rather than risk running into anyone on the road. Eventually the path led back into the woods and I followed it diligently until a noise stopped me in my tracks. It was a dull and persistent thud which I couldn't place but the sound of it haunted me as I stood out there alone. I inched forward carefully and slowly and finally saw a motion in a clearing in the trees ahead of me. The gloom of the forest meant I couldn't quite make it out at first but as I inched nearer the light of the moon illuminated a figure heaving an axe against blocks of wood. I recognized him at once: it was Daryl Dixon. His skin was glistening with sweat and he looked almost incandescent in the moonlight. Every muscle in my body contracted at the sight of him. I was unsure as to whether it was safe to make my presence known because we were always taught to be wary of the Dixon brothers after all, they were notoriously ferocious mountain men and were well known to everyone in town. However, I always felt differently about Daryl, there was something forgiving in his demeanor and I always remembered a time when I was younger and our dog Ralph had got himself stuck in a ravine in the woods. My sister and I were screaming at the top of our lungs, whimpering helplessly as Ralph cried nervously, his leg trapped in the rubble. Remarkably it seemed as if Daryl came out of nowhere, merely glided from the woods and swooped down to lift him out. I remember looking up into his eyes as he turned around to face us and seeing something else there that was kind and good and in contrast to the animal he had been portrayed as. Ever since that day I had always held a sort of strange affection for him, even when I saw him glaring at me with cold eyes across the gas station or spitting contemptuously at the ground whenever I passed by with Johnny and the rest of them and even though he would never give me the time of day but merely grunt when I said hello.

Here he was now, right in my path and I felt as if I had almost stumbled across some sort of private ritual. I attempted to take a step back from the clearing but just as I did he stopped chopping and wiped his forehead with the back of his arm. There was dirt all across his arms and the glimmer of perspiration made him look as if he was a warrior just returned from a battle. The silence was suddenly deafening but a twig snapped mercilessly as I placed my raised foot down behind me. He raised his head instantly and simultaneously brought his crossbow up into position, which was a sobering sight.

"Who's there?" He hollered and after a moments hesitation I stepped forward into the moonlight with my hands raised. I attempted to say my name but my throat tightened and trapped it before it could escape. His eyes softened at the sight of me but contracted momentarily with confusion and anger before he lowered the crossbow. I was locked in my position, held steadfastly by his intense scrutiny and I could feel a ripple of anxiety flow tantalizingly through my body as I waited for him to break the spell.

"What you doing out here girl? You trying to get yourself killed?"

"I-came from the bar," was all I could manage whilst I feebly waved in the direction downhill.

"I coulda killed you! You know what's been going on in these parts lately?" His anger was palpable as he threw his arms up in a wild gesture, his face screwed up in a scowl and suddenly I felt terribly afraid of him.

"What d'you mean?" I whispered and took a step back. He noticed my caution and probably registered the terror on my face because his features relaxed a little. He lowered his crossbow and held a hand out towards me.

"Hey, don't be afraid alright?" He spoke softly, never actually meeting my eyes with his as he did so but keeping them fixed on the ground. "I aint mad at yuh it's just-I was afraid I mighta hurt you".

"Well...you didn't... Do you even know me at all?"

At this his eyes snapped up and met mine, holding them in silence for a moment.

"Sure I do, I know your Daddy."

"You know my father?"

"Yeah, he's a good man. Did some odd jobs for him here and there and he was sorta kind to me when I was a kid an all."

"I didn't kno-"

"Yeaaah well it's ancient history." He growled suddenly, turning around to yank his axe out of the ground thereby skirting any questions I was ready to throw at him and I found that I was suddenly full of nothing but questions for him. He was mysterious and had always held a certain fascination for me and now that I had him here in my presence it was all I could do to stop myself from trying to interrogate him about his life. How so completely different he must have lived from the rest of us when he was growing up and he only lived a short while away from the street where I've spent my whole young life. I watched him as he gathered his things together. His movements were graceful and effortless as he slung his crossbow and rucksack across his back.

"Come on," he said regarding me with a look that almost suggested curiosity, no doubt he was still bemused as to what I was doing out in the woods alone at such an hour. "Let's get your ass home."

I hesitated for a moment, uncertain as to whether I wanted him to do this. I had absolutely no idea what he was doing out here either but I was pretty sure that escorting me back to town was not in his itinerary.

"I can find my own way. You don't have to take me."

"I'm gunna," he grunted in reply. Really, what more could I say to that?

He momentarily turned his head and regarded me with caution before turning his hard stare back to the path.

"Hey, tell me what you meant about 'everything that's going on in these parts'?" I asked as I remembered his words from earlier.

He turned to regard me with blatant disdain before shaking his head incredulously.

"Jesus girl, don't you step out your front door?"


	2. Chapter 2

For some reason his words were cutting and I suddenly felt hurt by their implication even if he had meant nothing by them but it was the look he gave that did it the most. For some reason I really cared what this man thought of me and it turned out that what he thought wasn't exactly flattering.

"What the fuck is _that _supposed to mean?" I barked, halting my movements and standing rigidly. He turned and looked at me with his mouth hanging open completely baffled.

"So I guess I'm just a sheltered Daddy's girl who couldn't _possibly _know anything about the world outside her doorstep! _Don't _confuse me with the rest of those airheads in this town Dixon, don't you _fucking _dare!" I snorted and feeling that my anger was about to surge out of control and possibly turn into hysteria and tears I began to stamp past him until I felt his strong fingers swiftly grasp the top of my arm and anchor me to the spot.

"Whoa!" He finally managed to say after standing quite staggered as I exploded in his face. "Hey, calm down I didn't mean anything by it alright? I just can't believe you haven't seen what's going on. Don't cha watch the news?"

I gaped at him for a while, still not quite getting his point and he sighed and shook his head again. I yanked my arm from his grip.

"What do you mean?"

"The virus?" He growled.

"Yeah? What of it? I thought it was under control? They're going to find a cure. What's your point?"

At this he lost his temper and threw down his gear. He kept his voice low and moved in close to my face but I could tell he was using all the restraint he could possibly muster to keep calm.

"The news aint telling you everything they should. That virus sends people crazy, did you know that? It aint under control neither. I was driving past the hospital two days ago and it was overrun with infected folks, they'd all lost their minds. Then I saw one in the woods yesterday..." He cut off suddenly and moved away from me, he walked over towards the edge of the woods which wasn't far off and stopped in front of a wooden gate which led to a large moonlit field. He leaned over it and rubbed his forehead vigorously as if shaking off an unpleasant thought.

"What is it?" I asked softly. He was silent for a while and I merely walked up and stood next to him, looking out over the field which was beautiful and silvery in the light.

"Damn thing tried to gnaw on my neck," he said finally, looking off into the distance. I felt a cold shiver run through me at his words. I looked up at him questioningly and he rolled his eyes to the side to meet mine. "I'm not playing." He clarified and I could see a haunted look in his eye as he spoke.

"You don't seem the type," I replied without taking my eyes off his. I quickly glanced behind us suddenly feeling a deep seated uneasiness take hold of me. "What did you do?"

"I could see it was one of the folks from the hospital, still dressed in those robes they wear. She was kinda dragging herself over to me real slow. Jus' a young woman. She looked vile, her jaw was all broken and I think maybe one of her legs. When she got close enough I asked her if she needed help but it didn't hit home, there was nothing behind those grey eyes, it was like talking to a corpse...Then she lunged herself at me, teeth bared and I managed to grab hold her arms and fling her off me before she took another flying leap towards my leg."

I suddenly realised how the story ended and turned around to look at the crossbow lying on the earth in the woods behind. When I looked back he was watching me, his eyes were shining and an understanding seemed to pass between us.

"We need to get you home," he said breaking the silence and moving back to pick up his weapon and his pack. I followed his lead and we walked up into the woods again side by side in comfortable silence.

"Thanks for doing this...taking me home I mean, " I said after a while.

"How come your boyfriend aint here taking you home? He know you're out here?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, Johnny. He's not my boyfriend."

"Looks like to me."

"Well he's not. He doesn't know it yet but he will do tomorrow. He's an asshole, it was only a matter of time before I realised that. I don't know what I've been thinking all these years." Daryl looked across at me quizzically.

"Yeah, they're a real special bunch you're friends," he smirked and gave me a crooked grin which was the first time I had ever seen him smile.

"Yeah well they're all scared shitless of you, especially Johnny."

"Can't think why," he said pursing his lips with amusement and glancing at me sidelong.

A burst of laughter escaped from my throat and I felt a feeling of warm contentment wash over me which was no mean feat considering I was out in the cold woods in the dead of night with possible deranged, infected people lurking in the shadows. I still didn't know how to process the information he gave me earlier. What was I to make of it? If what he said was true then why was the media lying about it and assuring us all it was fine? Having said that I wasn't an avid news follower, it was always too depressing to entertain and I found that my day to day life was much happier not knowing the current misery we had plunged ourselves into. Maybe by now it was reporting something else, something more truthful.

Before long we had left the woods behind and reached a track which ran alongside a trailer park where I was pretty sure Daryl lived, or had lived as a boy.

"You live here?" I asked gently.

"Naw, used to when I was growing up, live in a house further on down the road, way out of town."

The curiosity in me had not subsided and I suddenly wanted to see this house, to see where he lived and slept and ate, just to see him in his own habitat, or maybe I already had? Maybe he was most at home out here in the woods.

"Hey! I meant to ask earlier, what were you doing chopping wood in the middle of the night? Seems kinda odd, or maybe that's all in a day for Daryl Dixon?" I teased with a false look of bafflement on my face. He endured it and merely gave me an amused but exasperated look.

"I was preparing. Wanted a couple bits of dry firewood for my pack."

"For what?"

"To leave..."

My stomach lurched ever so slightly at his words.

"What do you mean? Where?"

"What's it to you? Why'd you care?" He frowned as he once more jumped back on the defensive.

I swallowed a hard lump in my throat and couldn't really reply honestly to him because I didn't know why I cared but I did.

"I don't it's just-"

"Jesus! Look out!" All I could see was his eyes flash in warning as he reached forwards and yanked me towards him by the shoulder. I turned around quickly enough to see a figure emerge from the shadows, merely a step away from where I was standing. It lurched out of a tall bush and scraped it's feet across the ground as it moved towards us. I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman but it took great rasping breaths, each like a death rattle. The sound made my skin crawl with fear and after the moment of confusion had passed I knew it was one of the infected. Daryl moved forward, raised his foot and knocked the figure flat onto the ground by stamping it in the chest. When it fell it triggered a security light from one of the trailers and it's hideous features suddenly became illuminated for us to see clearly. It was everything Daryl had described, the skin was a deathly grey pallor and the eyes were milky and dormant.

"See that," he said in hushed tones and all I could do was nod dumbly as we watching it struggle up from the floor and begin to move towards us again, mashing it's teeth together and stretching out it's grasping hands.

"That thing aint alive, it aint a person," he growled. He held his arm across me and shunted me back out of the path of the creature, whatever it was.

"Don't kill it," I whispered . Suddenly I felt a great sorrow wash over me at the sight of this god forsaken being and tears began to fall down my cheeks. Daryl looked down at me and pushed me back further out of harms reach.

"Come on, we need to get out of here, enough stallin'."

This time he took hold of my hand and led me away from it, I looked back at the creature once more and then followed him further up the path until we reached the main road and he let go of his grip. I suddenly felt fatigue wash over me as all the effects of the night combined to sap my energy. My knees buckled a little as we walked.

"Y'alright?" He asked, with a look of angry concern on his face. I learnt in the short space of our time together that all his emotions were expressed with always a touch of anger still present.

"I'm so tired," I replied and my knees buckled a little again and before I knew what was happening he had reached down swiftly and lifted me up into his arms.

"Wait," I protested.

"It's faster, I won't have to wait for your slow ass to keep up, we'd be walking until daybreak," he rebuked me.

I was too tired to put up a fight and so surrendered by placing my arms around his neck and leaning my head onto his shoulders. I felt him stiffen suddenly at the contact which made me lift my head off him slightly in response but eventually he relaxed and I tentatively lowered it down once again. I felt safe there in the crook of his arms and the thrill of the physical contact surged through my body like a dull ache. I was so close to his skin I could smell him.

We reached my house within seconds it seemed because I'd fallen asleep on the journey. I woke up as he lowered me down onto the porch.

"Your parents not home?" He frowned looking at the empty driveway.

"No, I'd forgot they're not home yet, they've been away...shit, I'm kinda nervous now on my own." The thought of being alone at that moment was not something I relished.

"Go inside, lock all the doors, you'll be fine, I'll be watchin' your house alright? Don't you worry none," Daryl said reassuringly. "Aint no infected going to get this close to the town anyhow."

His eyes were reassuring and sincere and I couldn't help but feel protected with him on my side, stood there with his crossbow slung across his back and a look on his face which defied anyone to fuck with him. He was certainly formidable.

"See y'around," he said and gave me one last look before turning and walking back the way we had just came. I watched him walk all the way to the end of the street before turning off and out of sight and something told me that he had merely spared me the spectacle earlier and that being out in the woods was going to breathe it's last death rattle before long.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke the next day feeling groggy and tired after a feverish sleep. I was terrified in the house on my own and actually barricaded my door and slept with the lamp on next to my bed which was something I hadn't done since I was a child. I got out of bed in the morning and heaved the heavy chest of drawers out of the way and made my way downstairs. I peered out of the window into the street and all was quiet. I don't know what it was I expected to see out there, whether it was hordes of the infected or whether I expected to see Daryl sat on the porch guarding the house. Either way the uneventful stillness outside was not enough to satisfy me, I needed to go out and follow up on the events from last night. It all suddenly seemed quite unreal in the light of day. How could a creature like the one we saw in the woods come shuffling down the street outside our house? Everything was so glaringly normal in the day and that terrifying thing just didn't belong in it.

I hastily got ready upstairs and went down into the garage to get into my brothers old pick-up which he had left for my uses when he had moved out of state four years ago. I backed down the drive and made my way towards the woods along the route Daryl and I had taken. I eventually reached the trailer park and there were a few kids playing outside who turned to gape at me as I slowed to a halt next to the path that rang alongside it down into the woods.

'_Don't their parents realise what the hell they've got lurking just outside their doorsteps_?' I wondered before rolling down the window and peering down the path without seeing any sign of the infected. I was compelled to get a better look, I had to make sense of what had happened and so I killed the engine and got out of the van. I made my way down the path with nervous trepidation and I knew that what I was doing was incredibly dangerous and somewhat stupid being as I didn't even have a weapon. However, when I got to the area where it had all taken place there was no sign that anything had ever been there and why would there be? Daryl had probably shot the thing and dragged it into the woods. I suddenly felt a shiver run through me and felt compelled to get as far away from the spot as possible so I turned and ran back to the pick-up, locking the doors and hastily turning the key in the ignition before skidding back the way I came.

I didn't see Daryl for days after that, most probably because I barely left the house. I wanted to drive down the road he had indicated he lived on and see if I could find his place but I felt nervous at the thought. Perhaps he wouldn't appreciate me turning up like that and besides, the intimacy we had shared that night made me almost blush as I barely knew him yet he had held me in his arms. There was something so raw and real about him it was hard to explain how he made me feel. He was unlike any other guy I had known and it both attracted me and scared me simultaneously.

The phone in the house began to ring frantically the afternoon after the night I had left Johnny at the bar and I knew it would be him trying to call and get an explanation out of me as to what happened. I screened all the calls and listened to various angry and pleading messages from him demanding to know where I went and with whom. I ignored them all and eventually decided to leave the house and make my way down to the gas station to get some food supplies. I partially believed I might see Daryl there as well because I knew from past experience that he used to hang out there a lot, or maybe it just seemed that way to me because that was the only place I ever saw him. As I approached the lot in the pick-up I felt nervous anticipation build in my stomach and eventually burst inside me as I saw him there as expected kneeling down next to a motorcycle and grappling with it's parts. I was almost too nervous to get out of the van but after I'd parked up he'd raised his head and lifted it with a look of recognition in my direction.

Once out of the van I made as if to go straight into the store but checked myself for cowardice as I could feel his eyes following my every move. Instead I took a deep steadying breath and moved in his direction, fixing my eyes on his and forcing the best confident smile I could muster. He didn't smile back, such is his way, but I could see his eyes crinkle slightly in amusement as I walked towards him.

"Hey girl, where you bin?"

"Hey, I uh-I've just been in the house is all. Thanks, you know, for everything the other night." I stuttered, shifting uncomfortably under his gaze.

"I know where you bin. I said I'd keep an eye on ya din' I?"

So he did watch my house after all and I was convinced he just told me that to keep me quiet and would actually just turn tail and make his way home. After all, why should he give a damn about me? I felt a warmth lurch through me at his words and I felt happier than I had done in a while.

"So you _were_ looking out for me huh? Thank you. It's like I've got my own personal bodyguard," I grinned. Had I known that he was close by outside the house the whole time I would have felt a whole lot safer and secure the last few days. "You should have called at the house and I woulda let you in and cooked you something nice as a thanks".

"I don't take kindly to being indoors," he replied with all trace of playfulness gone and began to pick up some tools that were strewn on the ground around the bike. I felt that suddenly a barrier had come up between us and the conversation had abruptly come to an end. I backed away from him slightly and headed slowly towards the store.

"Well, you know, the offer is always there should you wish to take it," I stammered before turning abruptly and making a speedy exit. As I pushed the door to the gas station store open I glanced behind and I could see him watching me once again. Once in the store I began to pick up various things absentmindedly with my head still buzzing with questions about Daryl Dixon. As I did so the roar of a motorbike started up outside and I ran to the window in time to see him pull out of the lot and drive down the road towards the woods.

Later on that evening I was sat in front of the TV which I found comforting in the absence of actual people in the house. I was beginning to get worried that I hadn't heard from my folks and had left a message for my father on his cell after he failed to pick up all my calls.

Outside it had begun to rain and was getting heavier by the minute. I wondered if Daryl was out there right now standing watch and I became concerned that he was going to get soaked through. I pulled on a raincoat and went outside in search of him, part of me believed that he was probably home by now because why on earth would he be out here keeping his word for someone he barely knew? I wasn't about to flatter myself into thinking I was that important. He may have chosen to be outside anyway, he could even be in the woods and I didn't particularly relish the thought of venturing back there. I decided to do a quick circuit around the surrounding streets and having found no sign of him I decided to take a shortcut to the woods through the fields behind our house. It was a bit of an impulsive move but I was determined to find him and was already outside so I found my desire was to move in his direction rather than back to the dry, warm house. I opened a gate that backed onto the field and no sooner had I taken two steps forward did I hear a familiar voice come from the tree beside it.

"Lookin' for more trouble?"

I turned and there he was leaning against the trunk and holding onto his crossbow. He was already ringing wet and much like the night when I had seen him chopping wood his skin was glistening once again. His hair was dripping raindrops down his face and he kept running his fingers through it in an attempt to stem the flow. His vest top was also soaked and was clinging delectably to his torso. For the first time I felt the flush of desire spread tantalisingly through me and I knew in that instant that I liked him a great deal more than I realised before or cared to admit.

"You're wet," was all I could manage.

"Yeah," he replied raising his eyebrows and appearing completely unperturbed by the fact.

"Come inside," I gestured towards the house.

"I told ya' how I feel about the indoors," he growled.

"About the indoors or about me?" I suddenly countered, feeling as angry as I felt the night we had first spoken and he had unintentionally implied I was a sheltered, weak Daddy's girl. "You don't wanna stoop to indulging a silly little girl who invites you into her silly little house is that it? Then screw you Dixon!"

He gaped in the same way he had the first time I had my outburst towards him and then watched me as I moved towards his spot under the tree and plonked myself onto the west grass.

"What the hell you doin' now?" He cried.

"If you won't come into the house then I'm gonna sit here outside with you instead", I replied, my lips tightening with obstinacy.

"Get your ass up, you're going to make yourself sick sat out here!"

"Nah, fuck you Dixon."

I turned to look at him and could see his eyes crinkle with humour as he watched me sat on the ground with arms crossed and raindrops bouncing off the hood of my coat.

"If I go inside your damn house will you get your ass up?"

"Yes."

There was a pause and I watched him shift uncomfortably as he grappled with a decision. Eventually he sighed and slung his crossbow over his shoulder.

"Fine, let's go inside."

In my excitement I lifted myself onto my hands but nervously hovered there waiting for him to move.

"Get!" He shouted as he jabbed his thumb in the direction of the house. I jumped up and grinned at him, laughing triumphantly as I passed him. He gave me a thunderous look which I ignored as I breezed towards the back door.

Once inside I shook off my coat and hung it up and with it I seemed to shake off all my angry confidence as well and suddenly felt coy with him stood there in the kitchen. He closed the door behind him and locked it, standing awkwardly and glancing around him as he did so before placing his crossbow down gently against a chair. I took in the sight of him as he examined the room and remembered that he probably needed to get dry. He was certainly an arresting sight at that moment and it took me a moment to realise I was staring and he was looking at me quizzically.

"You need to get dry?"

He shrugged, "I wouldn't want to get things wet".

"Go upstairs and take the first right for my room, I'll bring you some towels and a change of clothes. I'm sure my brother has left some stuff here."

I could tell by the pained look on his face that it made him uncomfortable to accept hospitality and dress in a strange man's clothes and the whole situation in general was not something he was used to at all but he didn't utter a word in protest and merely glanced at me threateningly as if to say 'don't push it too far' before making his way up the staircase. I retrieved the clothes from a closet in my brother's old room and grabbed some fresh towels. I knocked on the door to my room and slowly opened it to crane my neck around. I caught sight of Daryl peeling off the vest top from his body, revealing his naked torso before dropping the dripping garment to the floor. I gulped at the sight of his navel and panicked suddenly, drawing my head back before he found me there watching him.

"You decent?" I called and suddenly he flung the door open and stood there as I had just seen him a second ago. I held steady eye contact with him, trying to avoid looking at his chest and flung the towels and garments in his direction.

"See you downstairs," I said in hushed tones, barely managing to speak at all through the choked sensation in my throat.

"Alright," he replied and held my gaze so steadfastly I felt I was going to spontaneously combust under it's intensity.

I quickly tripped down the stairs and glanced back up at the bedroom door as he closed it. I moved to the window and looked outside. The rain carried on pounding the ground relentlessly and I wondered how many infected were out there tonight, were there more now? Were we going to see scenes here like Daryl had at the hospital? The thought chilled me to the bone but remembering that he was here with me in my house made me feel safer than I had done in days.


	4. Chapter 4

I stood at the window mesmerised by the motion of the rain drops and eventually heard the sound of the bedroom door opening and Daryl making his way down the stairs behind me. I turned to face him and was relieved that the clothes fit alright, the scarlet polo shirt was a little tight across the chest but it would do. However, he did appear like a fish out of water. I'd never seen him wear clothes like that before, I'd only seen him in earthy looking vest tops and torn sleeveless shirts and I could tell he was uncomfortable. His shoulders were hunched and he stiffly turned to face me with a pained expression on his face.

"Feel a fool in this," he growled.

"Take it off then!" I cried indignantly, shrugging my shoulders and to my surprise he actually lifted the shirt over his shoulders and held it out to me.

"Here," he gestured towards me with the shirt and after I had taken it from him he stalked over to the couch keeping his eyes rooted on mine with a defiant look before throwing himself heavily onto the seat.

I stood gaping at him before throwing the t-shirt in his face and with a grin scuttled off to the kitchen.

"Hey!" he called with the ghost of a smile playing on his lips before launching himself out of his seat and chasing me across the room. It was so unexpected I squealed with anticipation before running into the kitchen where I backed up against the sideboard, my heart pounding. He came running in after me and grabbed me by the waist, lifting me up onto the side and positioning himself in between my legs.

"You're a naughty girl," he almost purred and I was paralysed with the sudden proximity of him. His hands held me in position around my waist and I was pinned to the spot.

His face was so close to mine, so close I felt as if he would lean forward and brush his lips against me. _Oh god, oh god he's going to kiss me. _My heart was pounding so hard I was terrified he might hear it. For one suspended moment he held his face still and close to mine, his blue eyes holding me intensely until I could feel I wasn't breathing, he had knocked the breath right out of me. His breathing was shallow and almost predatory and I could feel the heat of it on my skin. Then, just like that he pulled away and the air seemed to run cold all around me as he moved back and held out a hand in my direction. I took it and hopped down from the ledge.

For a moment there was something close to static in the air between us, a frisson seemed to run over our touching palms and like the first night we had spoken an understanding seemed to take hold. His eyes smouldered as he looked at me and I was angry that he had pulled away like he had. He was stood there, half naked in front of me and all I wanted to do was to reach across and touch him and run my fingers across his skin lightly searching the contours of his torso. It felt right somehow even though I had only truly known him for a few days at most but the attraction was fierce and I just couldn't shake some sense into my head. Then again, I had dated Johnny for years, where had my head been then? I felt like now I had stepped out of obscurity and for once could see clearly and right there in front of me was Daryl Dixon: rugged and raw but still genuinely good deep underneath the angry facade.

He unexpectedly dropped my hand and ran upstairs, coming back down moments later pulling his wet vest top back over his head.

"What are you-?"

"Come on," he breathed and picked up his crossbow. "We're going outdoors, get some air in our lungs."

"But it's raining goddamn it!" I cried. He gave me a narrow eyed look and glanced pointedly at my raincoat hanging on the chair. I was suddenly excited at the prospect and with a show of reluctance so he wouldn't think I was so easily led, I began to pull my coat on.

"What we going to do out there?" I asked with lips parted

"I'm gonna teach you how to shoot," he replied. "You need to know how to take care yourself girl, can't be protecting you twenty-fo seven."

He turned and opened the door and we left out through the field behind the house where I had found him earlier. The rain was still as aggressive and thumped at our heads as we charged through it. We bolted towards the woods and before long found ourselves under the shelter of the trees. I removed my hood and looked at him impatiently before he jerked his head in the direction towards the field and the fence where we had stood the other night and where he had implied that he had killed the infected creature in the woods. When we got there I noticed a bunch of rather sorry looking crumpled cans lying on the ground and realised where this was going.

"This how you blow off steam?" I chided.

"These are for you, not me, I don't _need _practice."

"What made you so cock sure you were going to get me back in these woods?"

He moved up against me and forced the handle of the crossbow into my hands before sliding slowly behind me, one hand moving as he did so around the circumference of my waist. His fingers disturbed the material of my top slightly and brushed against my skin in a way which sent shivers running through my body. He held his head over my shoulder and softly spoke instructions in my ear on how to lift the weapon and engage the arrow. He had already set up the cans on the fence and with his capable arms he held mine in position, showing me how to line up the shot.

"You feel the trigger there?" He breathed pressing my finger into it gently with his own. "Pull that when I say, alright?"

I nodded almost imperceptibly and held my breath in waiting. The stillness and silence of the woods was absolute and he was pressed so closely against my back I could feel his heartbeat resonating in my spine.

"Now!"

I pulled the trigger and the arrow sailed gracefully through the belly of the can and sent it flying into the field behind the fence. The feeling of hitting the mark like that was exhilarating, even if it was executed mainly by Daryl's skilled hands. I handed him the crossbow and ruffled his hair vigorously.

"Not such a bad shot eh?" I laughed and he reached out to grab me but I reacted too quickly for him and instead went running further into the woods out of his reach. I felt the same excitement of the chase from earlier and it was as if I might explode with the possibilities of this one after such a close call earlier. I backed up against a tree and watched with shining eyes as he came running up to me. His eyes were burning as he pressed against me and with one deft hand he pulled my head back and hungrily possessed my lips with his. I moved my lips against his with equal fervour letting his tongue glide deliciously into my mouth and against my own. My whole body screamed with ecstasy as we tasted each other, each as ravenous as the other, eager to get more, to push further. I grabbed fistfuls of his hair in my hands as he gripped at my waist.

"Oh god," I heard a gasping voice utter, not realising instantly that it was my own, it felt so disembodied. As I did he slowly moved his thumb down towards the hem of my jeans and teasingly stroked the skin underneath it. I groaned and pushed his head back ever so slightly so I could look into his eyes and try and read what was going on behind them. He stared back at me not giving anything away and brushed his hot lips underneath my jaw line.

During this brief rest bite the sound of wood cracking underfoot resonated from an area just behind us. His hunter instinct jumped to attention and his head shot up to take in the surroundings. I moved from the tree and turned to see for myself only to find four of the infected shuffling their way towards us, their faces grotesquely mutilated and their teeth gnashing sickeningly.

"Fuck!" I gasped.

"Get back to the fence," Daryl hissed and we ran back to where he had dropped the crossbow before the chase.

I watched stunned as the small group determinedly made their way closer and closer. I had never seen this many together before and the increasing numbers inspired a feeling of dread in my stomach. I looked on as he grabbed his bow, marched resolutely towards them and lifted it into position. Before I knew quite what was happening he had let one gleaming arrow fly into the skull of the creature that was closest before stepping forward and pulling the arrow out of the bloody pulp and reloading it in the bow. He did the same with the other three, all done calmly and coolly, his hunter's eye coming into play and a steely resolve gripping him. The last one fell with a dull thud to the ground and he moved towards it pulling the arrow out once more and then stood with his head lowered breathing deeply, his whole body heaving. He turned to me after a moment and his forearms and body were splattered with blood. He looked feral in that split second, his jaw locked into tight determination and his mouth pinched in what looked like disgust.

"Did you have to kill 'em?" Was all I could think to say after a long silence, after all, how did we know it was the right thing to do? He says they're not alive, they're not people but how can he know that? How can any of us know what these things truly are?

"This place aint gonna be safe before long. My brother was right. We need to get the hell outta here before we're overrun," he replied. "And oh yeah...I had to kill 'em, or else they woulda got up to that trailer park and killed a whole lot more. Y'understand? Don't you feel nothing for these things, you prob'ly still thinking of em' as humans cos you just seen a couple but they aint, alright? There aint anything human about em' anymore. Understand?"

"I guess," I replied although I was still uneasy about the whole thing.

"Let's get back," he said, taking my hand. I turned and headed back, feeling the most conflicted and sorrowful I'd ever done so in my life. I began to seriously wonder for the first time in days where this epidemic was going to lead us and how long it would take for hordes of those things to come for the town, bringing their pestilence with them. I became aware of an unpleasant charge in the air, the rumbling approach of a building storm. Just how long would it take before it hit?


End file.
